


Playing House

by Erisandmira, Kamico_DA



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: AU, Dark Trio, F/M, Female ?, Female Zexion, Gen, Genderswap, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-14 23:34:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19283470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erisandmira/pseuds/Erisandmira, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamico_DA/pseuds/Kamico_DA
Summary: She was up early, performing her usual routine. Her entire body moved with a purposeful clarity across the training room; poised, balanced and sharp.Hidden by the shadows, he watched her. Longing to come closer, to hold her, to caress her skin, to possess.....She was discipline and fury wrapped in ice, and his desire for her threatened to burn right out of his skin.OrIn which Xemnas is a lot more Terra than he should be and the consequences are terrifying.





	Playing House

_0.1_

_Once upon a time, amidst a collapsing world, an old man and a young man shared a conversation._

_The youth, lost between sorrow and hate, watched, paralyzed as all he knew disappeared. Slowly, it dawned on him that he’d been deceived. Desperate to salvage his crumbling faith, he asked, “Master, why?”_  

_The old man turned away from the youth and clasped his hands behind his back. Ambition had buried its roots so firmly into his heart, that he was rendered blind to all else. ”You know, at times I find your progress quite striking, but you still fall short.”_  

_Such a pity that no one else understands, the old man lamented. Then again, foolishness is an ailment that plagues all youth. Once more, the elder would graciously bestow wisdom to this fledgling. He continued: “Let all that anger out, my boy. Give your heart over to darkness.”_

_“What do you mean?” The youth demanded._

_Their fate was intertwined, their bodies merged, but their wills...Their wills never united._

_The old man's last words to the youth were spoken with authority, for he knew soon his plans would come to fruition, ‘You won't need a home anymore where you're going’._ ****

_The youth, longing for his friends more than ever, pledged, ‘I won't let him hurt you.’_

_So the story is told, and here it begins once more._

 

1.1

Braig had to admit that whatever Xehanort did to him during his episode of murderous Keyblade-toting madness, made it so much easier to access and shape the darkness. The Corridors never were quite so eager to answer his call before, and the travel was less exhausting.

He followed the connection to a world that felt… hollow? Empty of life and meaning, anyway - and immediately sought out a suitably high building. There were a lot of unoccupied skyscrappers. He almost felt spoiled for choice, here.

Another Dark Corridor, and Braig knelt near the edge of the roof, propping his new arrowguns’ combined form of a sniper rifle on parapet of a castle’s tallest tower. From this vantage point, at the closest to the only full thing here, the starlit sky, everything looked so small. ‘May your heart be your guiding key,’ he thought with amusement, looking down the magical scope, yes, ‘may not-my or now-lost heart be my guiding key’.

In any case, he found his target quickly: the empty body of Xehanort (or possibly Terra) was just standing still atop another roof, under some gigantic screens.

It was almost tempting to just squeeze the trigger and see that silver-haired head explode. He could have easily justified that, even, by telling Xehanort’s Heartless it was Eraqus’ student in there, out for his blood.

The empty socket itched. Eye for an eye, at least...

Braig exhaled, and forced his body to relax. It was not his call to make. In any case, an empty vessel would be useful for The Plan, so the best course of actions would be securing it, by force if necessary.

“Damn it,” he spat to the side and stood up. “I’ll have to go down there, up close and personal. With my luck, it’d be wide awake Terra.”

He summoned yet another Corridor, to the ledge with the empty body. It didn’t react to Braig’s sudden appearance at all - a good sign. It was slightly hunched, still in the labcoat and cravat ensemble of Ansem the Wise’s apprentice, and yet, it lacked Xehanort’s previous arrogant posture.

Braig cocked his head to the side, appraising it further. It stayed still, staring blankly ahead with empty dull-brown eyes, pupils unfocused and blown wide underneath the half-closed eyelids. Braig wondered, what trance had consumed it? Which impulses influenced it? What would Braig discover if he pushed a bit?

“Welcome back to the Realm of Light!” he laughed, donning the familiar mask of a simpleton and hitting its shoulder with a bit too much force. “But not back to existence, not quite.”

Once again, no response. It swayed a bit from the shove, but somehow kept standing. Perhaps it falling down, even if not to its death but only on the floor, would’ve caused a reaction?

“Hey, buddy, you okay there?” Braig asked, faux-concerned, hand snaking around the vessel’s shoulders. “You seem really out of it.”

It didn’t react to proximity, it seemed. He let out a sigh; maybe he should let Ansem take care of this? Caring for a lobotomized vegetable was not a part of his work description. Perhaps taking it to meet the other Xehanort would remind it of its purpose.

He glanced at it again and turned the last thought around a few times. That reminded him of a small problem.

“What do I call you, by the way?” he patted its head. “The other you took the name Ansem. First come, first serve and all that. Think you’ll keep Xehanort?”

He would’ve missed it’s muscles tensing, like a coiled spring ready to act, beneath the white coat, if he wasn’t literally leaning on the not-so-empty vessel, what with the screens overhead suddenly coming to life and all.

“Xehanort?” Braig cautiously called out again, stepping away from it. He didn’t like the way the atmosphere between them changed, and so he started to charge up a teleport…

“You…” it growled, before taking off in a violent leap towards him. He tried to avoid the grasping hands aiming for his throat, but suddenly his powers and body both betrayed him, as a heavy pressure suddenly fell upon the rooftop.

Braig choked, its fingers squeezing his neck before shifting to force him down, onto his knees and hands. So, it could bite? And quite strongly at that! If it wasn’t trying to kill him he would have rejoiced.

By the shifting of its body he felt that, beside the arm holding him in place, the other was being raised to strike, with fist most likely clenched tightly. He needed to do something and quickly, lest he was beaten to death by an out-of-his-mind vessel **.** Honestly, that Xehanort was almost more trouble than he was worth…

“Hey, are you really going to kill your partner-in-crime?” he forced down the instinct to futilely struggle and tried to talk the vessel out of it. “The other one who remembers? What, already giving up on attaining Kingdom Hearts?”

The creature blinked, something shifting behind its eyes, under the surface of its conscious: an older, more _controlled_ urge displacing the rage from the driving seat. It straightened up, as if it wasn’t trying to kill Braig just a moment ago, “Kingdom Hearts…” it murmured, still dazed, the pressure fading to manageable levels.

The one-eyed man hid a smile when the grip slackened. Now he could move from the uncomfortable position. “Exactly, Xehanort”.

A poor choice of words perhaps, Braig realised, as yet another growl escaped its lips. Better get out before he was pinned again, he thought and used the moment of it’s confusion to wiggle out and to put some distance between them.

Trembling violently, the vessel stumbled backwards, shaking its head. Braig slid up behind it, stopping it from falling off the edge and cooing, “Easy, easy now...” 

It screamed in pain, curling up invards and clawing at its empty chest. Slowly, very slowly as to not to startle it, Braig placed his hands to steady the vessel up, and in turn it shuddered before flinching away and stifling another scream.

The damn screens flickered wildly, more static than pictures. He paid them no mind, though, more concerned with the state of Xehanort’s body, holding it and appraising what looked to be an internal struggle for a little while with a calculating glint in his eye, carefully rubbing circles on its tense back.

“So, not Xeha…” Braig cut himself off just in time, “that name?” he decided to not mention Terra. Who knows what that one would do to the clearly unstable thing… “You still haven’t answered what should I call you.”

The vessel tilted its head towards Braig. For a moment it just stared at him, eerily still like a snake.

“Do not call me by that name,” it eventually rasped, a slight frown creasing its brows, some kind of thought process clearly going on inside its head. “Do not call me by that name anymore, _Braig ._ ”

Heh, it spat his name out like it was an insult. Braig grinned, “Hey, if you don’t like the name that’s fine. As long as you get Kingdom Hearts, right?”

“Leave,” it glared at him, and so he stepped away, hands up in a disarmed manner.

“Fine, fine,” Braig said. “I’ll go fetch your other. It seem that the two of you have a lot to discuss.”

He turned around, summoned a Dark Corridor and stepped through. Geez, who would have thought he’d miss the old Xehanort, he mused. At least the Heartless should fix whatever is wrong with this one.

 

1.2

He did not know how long he had been standing here.

At first, everything was blank. Empty. Nothing held any meaning or affection, blissfully empty. Yet, this false tranquility was shattered by _his/that_ name, unleashing turmoil that was locked behind the non-existence.

Now, all he could do was to huddle on the roof he appeared at ( _how did he do this and why_ ), grasping at the only thing here that calmed instead of inflaming as if it was a lifeline.

...There was something terribly familiar about the stars that called out to him, a strange longing for things he couldn’t quite remember. The almost-feeling of home and companionship, like a ray of light, was the only thing that allowed him to stay steady in the storm of impressions and memories clashing with each other. He welcomed that surety, as it was one of the few things that wasn’t trying to split him in half, agreed by both warring forces within.

Yet, the images playing on the screen at his back called out to all of him, like a siren’s song. It was painful just to look at these ever-changing things that flickered and disappeared before he could get a proper look and even worse - to try and make sense out of any of them, but… wasn’t it his greatest desire, to remember? Didn’t he pursue his past with abandon, back then? Didn’t he… _kill his Master/Father/Friend_  ...trying to reach it?

With great effort he turned around, away from the distant lights in the sky that promised guidance, and plunged into the confusing yet so intriguing abyss.

As if to mock his decision the screens showed him the night sky illuminated by a meteor shower, a spectacular vision that did not linger for long, no. Instead, it flickered to Braig’s laughing face…still intact and with both his eyes. No-wait, another image overlaid it, almost identical, except now half of it was covered in bloodied bandages.

_“You must fight! You can’t let this ruffian win.”_ He remembered yelling… or was it hearing? Static filled the screens and his head both. Different voices, all his, play in repeat inside his head.

_“..have taken yet another step forward”_

_“But I was consumed by anger..hatred. That was the power of darkn-.”_

_“......-ou channeled.”_

_“Jus-.....wh-.....heart.”_

_“_ **_Join me_ ** _.”_

He turned away, eyes shut and head clutched in his ( _new_ ) hands. The pain was almost too much...

...he would preserve. He was nothing but inherited will, even if one that turned and coiled around to tear and rage at itself, and that will desired to know.

He looked up at the screens again, on the images displayed, but they made even less sense now, changing rapidly, blurring together and shattering into pixels.

There was someone blonde, short and with a blade held backhand, that was _dear/useful/_ ** _important_** to him... No, no, no, what was he thinking? That person was a _failure/_ ** _weak_** _/disappointment._ Both. Neither?

There… there also was Braig, again. He remembered Braig, his fellow apprentice. He was a friend ( _foe/fool/tool_ ). Why had Braig attacked him?... wait, he told him to, no?...

Too confusing. Wasn’t there someone, anyone that wasn’t… why… it was as if there were two versions of everyone. How was he supposed to tell the false from the real?

There was a flash of blue on the screen.

This was… someone smart? Yes, and talented also. A bit misguided, though, but definitely someone worthy of respect.

Was this someone he…

She. _She_ fought Braig. Was this why he disliked the other?... Did he hurt her? Did… she hurt him?

The screens flickered, showing more of her. In armor, a familiar one - the one that was found with him! No, no! Wait! Why was it switching away from her, he searched for the image in the smaller ones, he just need one more glimpse of her...

She was a warrior, he realized, as a recording of a training started to play, too blurry and full of snow to see her face. She used magic, a lot...   

Unfortunately, those traitorous screens refused to reveal more. Instead, they showed him a wasteland, filled with orange dust and grey wind-weathered stone, underneath a…

Static. Snow, blurring. Black and white lightning. Pixels of all colors.

‘This was important’, he thought through the rising pain and forced himself to look. ‘Show me!’

But the rapid flickering and the sharp ache forced him to clutch his head and turn away, to avert his eyes from the memories being played on the screens...

“Ah, there he is,” a familiar voice spoke from above.  

His head shoot up. Following the sound past the screens, all frozen on an image of a blue heart-shaped moon, he saw two dark silhouettes, one of which floated down from their perch on the frame of the biggest one.

He - it landed before him with effortless, easy grace. Casting a massive shadow – fueled by the glow from behind – over him. Its skin was dark, its hair - silver, its outfit - painfully _(loathingly)_ familiar, and the Heartless Emblem was proudly displayed on its bare chest.

One only needed a single look at it to know it was incredibly, undeniably dangerous. ‘What a terrifying and imposing aura’, he thought, as it took a step closer, looking like it was scrutinizing him for something, never once breaking eye contact.

It seemed like Braig have finally returned with the ‘other’.

'Hello, my Nobody,' it purred, yellow eyes gleaming with strange, dark emotion, 'I am Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. _Your Heart'_ ".

His throat felt dry; no words came out. It looked like it expected an answer, so he nodded, unable to look away from it, the one that took the name ‘Ansem’, as enraptured as he was with the screens behind it… that started to glitch out again.

“Do you have nothing to say, _my soul_?” it asked with a hint of disapproval, searching for something in his expression.

He couldn’t muster the strength to respond.

“Do you perhaps remember our goal?” it demanded an answer. “Do you remember it?”

Involuntary, he looked away, unsure. Goals? He couldn’t remember anything like that... beyond recovering their memories, but he felt it was a wrong answer. Goals… he glanced at the screen again. Was it… to reunite with that girl?

It was right, yet so wrong. He wanted…

The pain returned, stronger than ever, making him hunch up and claw at his chest, where his heart should’ve been.

“...I see,” he heard it sigh. “So, this is how it is?”

Someone - Braig? - grabbed him from behind and forced him to stand upright. He couldn’t help but notice that the image of an old man appearing on the main screen... an old man in the same outfit as the Heartless in front of him. They even walked with the same predatory gait, stalking closer and closer.

He saw double: both the old man and his Heart were moving to, onto him, and it filled him with a strange, out-of place memory of dread. He tried to get away, but the hold was solid and…

The Heartless’ fingers seized his jaw, tilting his face up to make him to look into its shining golden eyes. It… Ansem touched his forehead, almost gentle, and suddenly there was a lapse in his awareness. Yet, he paid it no mind, as something clicked in seamlessly, and he remembered _the greatest Light,_ Kingdom Hearts, his, their, Xehanort's goal.

The pain subsided, too, he idly noted while leafing through the now-clear memories, the drives previously tearing him apart neatly sorted out.

“I do,” he finally managed to get these words out of his throat. “I do remember, my Heart.”

Ansem smiled, hands shifting to cup his face...

“Whelp, you look better already!” Braig suddenly released his grip and stepped away, almost making him fall. “I guess my part here is done. I’ll go look for the rest of us, Apprentices-”

“No,” the Heartless interrupted him, hands back by its sides. “We shall all go. There is much work that needs to be done.”

He straightened up, and followed Ansem into a Dark Corridor.

He couldn’t help but notice, though, that while almost all screens still were showing Kingdom Hearts, in blue… a few - had her, standing underneath.

 

1.3

He chose the name Xemnas. 

Admittingly, he could have continued to use ‘Xehanort’ but… even if it no longer made him wish to crush and tear and rage, it still felt wrong. This was not because he has forgotten being that person, no. He remembered well being Xehanort. It was one of the first memories to return, as soon as Braig spoke the name, but… Xehanort was all of them, thus, it would never be _his_.

Thus, Xemnas it was.

After his creation, he spent the time collecting more to call his. The empty World, the Castle, the City… the Nobodies.

One by one, Braig returned with the other apprentices. Upon arrival, they all wore the same lost expression he must have had when… before his Heart reminded him of the goal. They were here, with him, in his grasp, but… they were yet to _truly_ become his.

“...no hearts! This is…” Even’s voice was audible even before Xemnas entered the conference room in the Castle he claimed.

“Oh, chill out,” Braig grumbled, face inscrutable. “It’s not like you really feel any excitement.”

“Excuse me?! Even if I don’t, this is fascinating, you oaf!” not noticing a new addition in the room frothed the academic, but was interrupted by Zonie tugging on his coat sleeve. “Not now, girl!” he turned to scold her, but it seemed that the glassy look in her visible eye visibly ‘disturbed’ and ‘unnerved’ him.

Aeleus picked up the small girl into a princess carry, but she didn’t react, limp like a rag doll.

“I’ll try to get her to sleep,” the giant grumbled softly. “It’s quite late.”

“It’s eternal night here, we’re yet to find any living quarters,” noted Dilan, “and this meeting is more important, anyway. Stay here.”

Braig rolled his eye and pulled a chair out from somewhere. “Here. Now, can we return to actually constructive discussion and not either pretend-fretting over lil’ mouse or pretend-freaking out over our newfound lack of hearts?”

“Indeed,” Xemnas interjected, making Nobodies freeze in place. “My friends, we are here to discuss our plans for future.”

They stood, silent and lost (with the exception of Braig, who seemed alarmed), looking at each other in question.

“I understand our new…. _state_ might leave some of you uncertain, but is it not, as scientists and scholars, our duty to embrace these new changes, not with despair, but with curiosity?”  

“ _Perhaps_ ,” snapped Even. “But how? Our laboratories fell with the Radiant Garden, and getting new equipment might span years!”

“Oh, don’t be so prissy,” Braig, once again. “We have these handy Corridors, no? We’ll have to look through the more modern worlds, and then just take what we need!”

“So we’ll have to do reconnaissance in other worlds…” followed Dilan. “I have to ask first, though. Xehanort, you…”

“Don’t call me by this name anymore,” he growled, power leaking into the air. “That person is dead. Fell with the Radiant Garden, killed by his own carelessness in operating the Heartless machines.”

Braig coughed. “We were all careless. And, of course, this is what it takes for our illustrious leader to admit making a mistake!” he turned to the petrified others. “Now, do we also admit we also fucked up or not?”

Even sputtered, almost denying, before clearly thinking better of it.

All of them, sans Zonie who already drifted to sleep in the chair, wore grave expressions, ranging from serious to pensive and to mourning. The thought of dying must have rattled them.

“Yet, we returned to the Realm Between,” Xemnas clasped his hands behind his back, absentmindedly, before starting to slowly move towards the Apprentices. “Do remember, my friends, that failure is the greatest teacher. We should learn from this, and resolve to never repeat such mistakes.”

“Then, what do we do now?” Surprisingly, it was Aeleus who raised the question.

Xemnas smiled from his new position to the right of the orange-haired giant, yet continuing his stride. “Is it not obvious? The road behind us is burned, standing still is not an option, so, it is forward we venture. “ He paused, letting his words sink in, before continuing, “However…we can not do this if we cling to the past. The old us are dead-”

“Well, you got yourself a new name already, _Xemnas_ ,” interrupted Braig, suddenly turning around to face him. “I think I want one too!”

Xemnas blinked, momentarily rooted in place. What was Braig playing at? He wanted to brand the Nobodies, true, but this was… ah, he remembered, wasn’t the one-eyed sharpshooter already a vessel? The Recusant's Sigil was a thing that old Xehanort knew, so this wasn’t too surprising for him to know of this…

Xemnas summoned a translucent image of Braig’s name, then rearranged it and struck the X at the front.

“From now on, you shall be known as Xigbar,” he announced, as regal as Ansem the Wise during ceremonies. No need to overthink this, he decided. Whatever the reason, no vessel can truly go against reaching the goal.

The other apprentices exchanged silent looks. “Sure,” Dilan shrugged. “Might as well.”

“Hey! You can’t just…” but as Xemnas turned away from the conjured name, Even choked on his words at the _look_ in the amber eyes.

“Your name shall be Xaldin,” he broke eye contact and resumed walking.

“But, but… What’s with the anagrams and the letter ‘X’, huh?!” Even dared to _challenge_ him _again_ , yet freezing once more when a slightest trickle of power was released. Xemnas stopped again, this time turning to the older scientist fully.

“Our pasts are an inherent part of who we are,” Xemnas started to calmly explain, staring down the others, “and yet, we are not these people. We consist of the same memories and experiences as the dead former apprentices of Ansem the Wise, yet we are different existences altogether. Therefore… we cannot claim the names of the dead as our own, but we can keep the components… and the ‘X’ is…” he trailed off before continuing with a renewed fervor, focusing on the blonde. “The letter X is the one which spells the _end_. Think of it as a reminder of our foolishness.”

“O-okay, I understand now!” Even backpedalled and nearly fell, if not for Aeleus.

“Good,” He nodded, resuming his stroll. “Vexen.”

Xemnas returned to the front, hands still clasped behind his back. He looked at Aeleus… who, in turn, was looking at sleeping Zonie.

“We’re not leaving her behind. She is as much a scientist as we are.” the giant’s face was unexpressive, but his eyes shone with silent resolve.

Not leaving the child behind… he could allow that, Xemnas decided. He wanted the girl nearby anyway.

He conjured two names then, and marked them one after another.

“Lexaeus,” he nodded to the sleeping girl. “Zexion.”

Dilan, Even, Aeleus and Zonie. All of them used to belong to Ansem the Wise, the real Ansem, and while his heartless-counterpart took the name, Xemnas now have claimed the apprentices. 

“...so, what no-”

Maybe not Xigbar, he amended. The sniper wanted the No Name first and foremost, and thus was primary beholden to the Original Xehanort, and while the old master’s goal was also Xemnas’s goal… this was, in a way, like a difference between inheriting a dog and training one from birth - in the latter case, there would be no surprises, no potentially unknown directives, no following orders of another.

“...as….what about……-erts-”

Xigbar was Xehanort’s dog, and Xehanort now was Ansem and Xemnas both. Which one he would follow, whose orders would he accept?

At least with the Apprentices, their original master was dead. He- _they_ made sure of it. A normal human, as remarkable as Ansem the Wise was, would perish in the Realm of Darkness quickly, by Heartless or simple deterioration.

“Hey, Leader,” Xigbar shook his shoulder, “What do ya think, should we be reclaiming hearts _of our own_?” 

He almost said ‘no’ aloud, but caught himself just in time.

His Nobodies looked at him, expectantly.

“We... “ he started, furiously thinking of a way to divert them from this direction. “The Hearts we had are most likely lost forever in the Realm of Darkness, together with those of the entire Radiant Garden. Such a search might take….” then again, he thought, they would need something to occupy their time before they can become proper vessels...

“What, too long?” Xigbar grinned. “I told them so, but they are still determined to try.”

“That, and also very dangerous,” he nodded, looking at all of them. “We might have to repeat the experiments that destroyed Radiant Garden, and search an innumerable amount of worlds for specific Heartless. And we all are now something _else_ , not human as we were, with unknown powers and weaknesses.”

“We’ll have to establish a base of operations, too,” followed Lexaeus. A thoughtful frown on his face, as he looked at the sleeping girl, no doubt thinking she couldn’t be dragged from world to world.

“...I agree,” frowned Vexen. “We’ll need to store equipment and specimens somewhere!”

“This World might work as a base,” added Xaldin. “So far, we saw no signs of life here, excluding the pristine buildings.”

“Then, is it agreed that we should start with exploring this place?” Xigbar unlatched from Xemnas, stretched and yawned. “And, maybe, have another meeting later. I’m tired! I need my sleep, you know.”

“If no one has anything absolutely urgent,” Xemnas nodded, “then we would conclude the today’s meeting. Let’s gather here again, tomorrow.”

The Nobodies agreed, if grudgingly - he was nothing but logical, after all - and each went their own way, leaving him alone in the room...

“I’ll have to say,” Ansem rose from his shadow and set his hand on Xemnas’s shoulder, whispering into his ear, “You worried me there for a moment, my Nobody,”

“Is that so?” He did not react at the sudden appearance of his Heart, knowing fully that it had been lurking here, with him.

Ansem tilted his head, studying him as it inquired,“Perhaps, you do require assistance in corralling these vessels?”

“Your interference would be detrimental to their existence.” Xemnas frowned. Surely, that much should be obvious, did his heart truly have so little faith in him?

“So be it,” it chuckled darkly, stepping back and into a Dark Corridor, its last words echoing in the room long after its departure. “But, do not let your thoughts wander too much... lest you get lost in them.”

 

1.4

So far, things progressed smoothly - a benefit of most of the Apprentices being trained to follow orders. They recognized him as the Superior and so didn’t question his _logical_ decisions… even Vexen, unhappy as the scientist was, only voiced the occasional complaint if he thought Xemnas wasn’t listening. After having tried to challenge his leadership once _already_ , the academic still deluded himself into thinking to have seniority... 

Still, his position was precarious. His own element, Nothingness, gave him an edge in any direct confrontation with Nobodies, but it wouldn’t help if someone shot a plain metal bullet from distance. How unfortunate that it was Xigbar who possessed such an ability, the most unpredictable member of his small clique, and also was the one who was in the knew.

The fool wanted No Name, but the fact remained: if Xigbar wanted to, he could’ve killed him, easily. He could’ve talked the others into it, into distracting him, to get that _single_ shot…

Who knew what the sniper was planning with his Heart. Recursant’s Sigil’s surveillance wasn’t perfect after all, and he couldn’t just stay locked in a room, reading lips. What he had seen so far troubled him, Xigbar was traveling to worlds further and further away, without permission or reporting it afterwards. 

Likewise, the other apprentices… Xaldin and Lexaeus, while exploring the scouted worlds, looked longingly at the civilian lives the locals had; as they prepared the Castle to be habitable, Vexen complained and Zexion listened - and no one wrote truthful reports on their findings!

Something needed to be done. As humans, as Ansem the Wise’s apprentices, they had worked together, as peers, but now… now, the rules were different. Did they regret turning against their old master? Did they blame him for their current predicament? He did not _know_.

He wanted to be the one who gave out orders, and had them be followed unquestioningly. He, they, Xehanort, already took Ansem the Wise’s name and his apprentices, couldn’t he also take that reverence too?

He sighed, and looked up, at the starlit sky. The sight was not as grand as the Kingdom Hearts, but… it still was soothing, calming down the turbulent thoughts.

If only he could just stay here, watching the lights among the blackness…

But no. He had to see to the Plan succeeding, so that the vessels stayed vacant and ready to accept Xehanort’s heart. Surely then, all these…. _doubts_ will fade away? Yes, only when everyone shared his-their heart, would everything fall into place. He…

But then they wouldn’t be his. They would be Xehanort. Just like he was, so… that would make them his after all?

The thought didn’t sit right with him, though he could not say why. Perhaps, because Xigbar didn’t belong to him?

As though summoned by Xemnas thoughts, a portal opened up behind him, one that had undoubtedly been opened by Xigbar, for who else would disturb him? Xemnas held back another sigh, turning around to see the sharpshooter…

… who had a blue-haired girl slung over his shoulders.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> One day, Eris and I were chatting about KH, I was kinda babbling about how Organization could have been better and sharing headcanons on how, one argument after another Eris got enthusiastic and I too after her… so, here we are?  
> Kudos and especially comments are fuel for authors!


End file.
